The Routledge Companion to Social Media Influencers by Borchers, Nils S.; Wellman, Mariah L.; Hudders, Liselot;

Short description:

Looking back at the first years of influencer scholarship, this book consolidates the field, theorizes current developments, and maps future directions. It is an accessible resource for researchers, lecturers and students across marketing, media and communication, cultural studies and digital anthropology.

Long description:

Social media influencers are the iconic figures of the social media age. As media diets shift to social media, influencers sit at the center of communication flows within the new information ecology. This is a powerful position. As masters of large followerships, influencers can direct online attention and engagement toward certain topics?and away from others. Followers build long-lasting relationships with their favorite influencers and trust their authentic recommendations and advice. This makes them sought-after cooperation partners for corporations, but also for other organizations such as NGOs, political parties, or government agencies. Along with their growing cultural and economic relevance, influencer research has taken off for real in the last decade.

Looking back at the first years of influencer scholarship, this book brings together leading researchers to consolidate the field, theorize current developments, and map future directions. Adopting the perspectives of influencers, followers, and other industry actors, this book provides a reference work that offers readers a comprehensive international collection of analyses, reflections, and insights about social media influencers, the dynamics of the industry, influencers? entanglement with strategic communication, and their role in contemporary (digital) culture.

Offering a broad interdisciplinary overview of research emerging within social media influencing, this authoritative guide is an accessible resource for researchers, lecturers and students across marketing, media and communication, as well as cultural studies and digital anthropology.

Chapters 9 and 25 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No?Derivatives (CC?BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.?

Table of Contents:

1.?Influencers as the Iconic Figures of the Social Media Age: An Introduction to the Routledge Companion to Social Media Influencers??2.?Defining Social Media Influencers: When Legacy Media hits Convergence Culture??Part I: Influencers??3.?Toward an Influencer Production Studies: Between-the-Line Labor in the Creator Economy??4.?Expert Influencers: Understanding Authority and Credibility in the Influencer Industry??5.?Influencer 'Authenticity' and 'Self-Branding': Influencer Studies within, between and beyond the Margins??6.?Influencer Professionalism in Review: Rethinking the Amateur/Professional Binary through Emerging Benchmarks??7.?Influencer Labor: Will Work Incessantly Against Uncertainty??8.?Tastemakers of the Platform Age: The Cultural and Economic Work of Social Media Influencers??Part II: Followers??9.?Endorse, Engage, Influence: Direct Effects of Influencer Communication??10.?Behind the Filter: Unintended Social and Psychological Impacts of Influencer Marketing??11.?Follower-Influencer Relationships: Moving Beyond the Parasocial Relationship??12.?Beyond Promotion: Trust as the Heart of Authentic Influencer-Follower Relationship??13.?Sponsored! Disclosures of Influencer Marketing to Enhance Transparency and Advertising Literacy??14.?Fandom and Influencers: Social Media Influencers through the Eyes of their Fans??Part III: Influencer Industry??15.?Influence and Impact: Navigating the Influencer Economy from a Brand Management Perspective??16.?Influencer Relations: Centring the Human within Commerce, Community and Creativity??17.?Prosocial Causes: How Influencers Contribute to the Common Good??18.?The Role of Influencer Intermediaries: Stabilizing and Industrializing an Emergent Industry??19.?Platform Politics and Influencers: Visibility, Invisibility, Hypervisibility??20.?Influencer Ethics: The Complicated Task of Navigating Moral Expectations of Followers, Brands, and Society??21.?The Regulation of Influencers: Expanding the EU Regulatory Horizon beyond Disclosures??Part IV: Lifeworlds??22.?Fashion Influencers: Platformed Allure and the Making of an Influence Culture??23.?Gaming Influencers: Between Digital Celebrity and Everyday Play??24.?Advocacy Influencers: Navigating Resistance and Walking the Activism Tightrope??25.?Political Influencers: Evolution, Engagement, and Impact??26.?Eco-influencers: Saving Planet Earth One Audience Member at a Time??27.?Parent Influencers: Reflecting, Shaping and Commodifying Parenting Advice??28.?Financial Influencers: Expertise, Authenticity, and Authority??Part V: Influencer Futures??29.?The Kidfluencer Phenomenon: An Overview of the Production, Content, and Audience of Kidfluencers??30.?Beyond the Human Touch: The Evolution, Implications, and Future of Virtual Influencers in Marketing??31.?Influencing as a Profession: A Cross-Cultural Perspective on the Professionalization of Influencer Culture